James caught up with Jamie and Shane from Revoker to talk about thie massive year supporting many high profile bands and releasing their debut album.

Can you give us a brief history of the band, how you formed and how you came up with your name?
Jamie: We’ve been together as a band since 2006; we were going for 3 and a half years under a different name, we had a really shit name it was A470 which is a road in Wales. We changed our name about 2 years ago to something a bit more metal that suited us, we felt Revoker suited us so that’s about it.

How did you come about gaining a record deal with Roadrunner Records?
Jamie: We were in the studio about 2 years ago and we wrote a bunch of new music, the main A&R guy from Roadrunner US heard the album and wanted to sign us so, we were pretty stoked.

Benji Webbe from Skindred actually produced your debut album “Revenge of the Ruthless”, how did this arrangement come to be?
Jamie: When we were in the studio, benji was there and we became really friendly. We were writing our songs and stuff and Benji gave his opinion and ideas which was working really well so we figured why not have him produce the album?

Do you see him being involved in future projects?
Jamie: Absolutely, it’s a possibility but we want to try to explore new things as a band do you know what I mean? But it’s definitely a possibility for the future.

You released your debut album “Revenge of the Ruthless” how did this album go down with the fans and in the press?
Jamie: Awesome! We’ve had some really good feedback from the press, but some people hated it unfortunately. We’ve had the best reviews from Europe and the US, so hopefully next year we might get over to America.

The cover is really good, who came up with the idea and who made the artwork?
Shane: We had a t-shirt design done, it was just a cowboy originally and then we bought this design from this guy online, stuck the Revoker logo over the top of it and thought it was too good to just release as a t-shirt so we thought if we can just work that into the artwork somehow it’d work well.

Jamie: It fitted in well with the album title too so we thought it would be really appropriate.

You’ve been on a lot of tour’s with the likes of Sepultura, Rob Zombie and countless other acts, who would you say has been your favourite band to tour with?
Shane: I’ve enjoyed them all to be honest. Every tour we’ve been on has been amazing; the Ozzy show was definitely a highlight. We’ve had a wicked laugh on every tour we’ve done to be honest it’s hard to pick.

You’re first headline tour with Holy Grail didn’t sell too well though, why do you think the reason for this is?
Jamie: When we went on that tour we didn’t even have an album out so nobody really knew who we were or knew the songs back then so we relied on word of mouth which didn’t pay off, since the albums been released though there has been a huge difference.

Shane: Yeah we’ve noticed a lot more people turning up and staying behind to talk to us afterwards, as well as the amount of merch we’ve been selling so there’s definitely been an improvement.

How do you cope with touring as vigorously as you do, do you get fed up or bored?
Shane: We don’t tour enough! We absolutely love it. I’m dreading going home because we get so bored when we’re back, we just want to get going again. You get into the routine of not sleeping and drinking a lot and we want to do it all the time.

Apart from the upcoming Chimaira tour what are your plans for next year?
Jamie: Definitely a lot more touring, when we’re home we write a lot of music so maybe by next year we may have another album ready but its early days yet.

Shane: We never know what we’re doing half the time. We just take whatever comes along and go with it.

Where do you hope to see yourselves in a year’s time?
Shane: In the big room next door! Ha ha!

Jamie: Just keep touring and growing as a band. Obviously we want to play in big venues and go around American, Europe places like that.

Shane: We just want to be the best band we can be and as big as we can be.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Shane: What a bloody question! Ha ha! I’d be a giraffe I would, because if you’re in a safari you can stick your head in people’s windows and steal their food.

Jamie: That’s a bloody good answer that is.

Thanks for your time, is there any message for your fans reading the interview?
Jamie: Thank you for all the support and buying the album, spread the word!

Interview by James Webb